“Darth” Bader Injured His Hand, Sidelined For Extended Future

Coming off his destruction of Anthony Perosh, Ryan Bader was hoping for a quick return to action.

However, the former Ultimate Fighter winner will be forced to the sidelines for an extended period of time after suffering a broken hand in the victory.

“With a broken hand, it puts me back, and some of these guys that I thought I could fight, like ‘Shogun’ Rua or a Phil Davis or whatever, they might get fights before,” Bader said, during a recent interview with MMAjunkie.com Radio. “I just have to wait, really. But I want to fight the guys that will jump me up that ladder.”

Bader (16-4) pushed his UFC mark to 9-4 with a decision victory over Perosh. Along with the hand injury, he also suffered a scratched cornea, forcing him to focus more on his mat game than he would have liked.

Most who saw the bout figured Bader earned a couple of 10-8 scoring rounds. However, he did not, and that left “Darth” a little leery of future fights.

“I don’t know what a 10-8 round is if those aren’t, but whatever – I won the fight” Bader said. “But that’s just scary, leaving it up to those judges as far as if there’s a closer fight.”

Since winning his first 12 pro fights, including a decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Bader has gone 4-4. All four losses, though, came at the hands of either fighters who have wore – or wear – UFC gold or are top contenders in Glover Teixeira, Lyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz and Jon Jones.